The Convent/Ta’n etl-mawita’mk Centre for the Arts is located in Kjikank (Sydney), Unama’ki (Cape Breton), and features 21 artist studios, a large Open Studio, the Better Bite Café and Kitchen, Meals on Wheels, and four anchor tenants – the Nova Scotia Community College Music Arts Program, Celtic Colours International Festival, The Coast 89.7 FM Radio Station, and Nova Stream.
Transformation: 1885–Today
1885: Sisters of The Congregation of Notre Dame establish the Holy Angels Convent
In 1885 the Sisters of The Congregation of Notre Dame, with the assistance of the parishioners of Sacred Heart Church and their priest Fr. James Quinan who lead the initiative, built the first all-girls boarding and day-school East of Montreal. In its 126-year history, the Holy Angels Convent was the place of learning for hundreds of girls living in Sydney, NS and the surrounding areas.
From the very beginning, the curriculum offered at Holy Angels, apart from catechism lessons, focused on the fine arts. Classes in music, visual arts, theatre, and dance were important elements of the education received by students, the results of which were shared with the nearby community through performances and exhibitions.
2011: New Dawn purchases the property — A New Beginning
Following the closure of the high school in 2011, New Dawn purchased the property in 2013 and began to assess how it might be reused. In 2014/15, New Dawn enlisted the help of Lord Cultural Resources to conduct a series of community consultations that would lead to a new vision for the property. With the concept of an arts centre in hand, New Dawn staff visited several similar Centres in Toronto and Moncton to learn about the operations and development of similar centres.
2017: Renovations begin on Canada’s newest Arts & Culture Centre
In 2017, Nova Scotia Communities, Culture, and Heritage committed $3.2 million towards the transformation of The Convent and the Government of Canada committed $5.5 million to the Convent as one of four creative hubs in Canada, alongside others in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. With this initial funding secured, renovations began in the Convent in 2017.
Renovations have included demolition and abatement (asbestos and lead), structural assessments and reinforcements, civil services upgrades, new building envelope, windows, and roof, building circulation alterations (north stair and south stair), accessibility upgrades (elevator, door size, washrooms), new heating, ventilation and air conditioning infrastructure, masonry repair, interior partitions, and new plumbing and washrooms.
These renovations have been guided by a substantive design team that includes Trifos Design Consultants (Architects of Record), DTAH (Design Architects), DORA (Construction and Project Management), ONSA (Mechanical and Electrical Design), Entro (Environmental Design), and Blackwell (Structural Engineers), in a construction management build.
2020: Re-opening
When the Convent re-opens it will be home to four larger arts organization tenants, three meeting/presentation spaces (15 people, 40 people, and 100 people), an open lounge/cafe and community kitchen (operated by the Better Bite Community Kitchen and New Dawn Meals on Wheels), and over 40 independent artists and artist collectives within 21 private studio spaces and 22 furnished spaces in a large open studio.
Mission
The Creative Economy In Nova Scotia
In NS, cultural industries contribute over $1 billion to the economy and more than 14,000 jobs a year — a sector that now exceeds hunting, fishing, agriculture and forestry in importance to the economy. This creative economy includes things like heritage, libraries, archives, visual and applied arts, photography, craft, design, performing arts, festivals, sound recording, film and television, and books and magazines.
We strongly believe in all the benefits of the arts to communities — their ability to transform places, give people hope, give people a new way to see themselves and the world, start conversations, connect, challenge, bring joy.
To this end, we want to make the arts more visible — to give people a place to work that is safe, modern, affordable, and beautiful so that they don’t have to go away to find this or they can come home or come here for the first time and find this.